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Tuesday, June 08, 2010

MONTANA DOESN'T THINK DEATH OF AN EIGHTEEN YEAR OLD AMERICAN INDIAN IN CUSTODY IS WORTH BOTHERING WITH

The Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council asked state Attorney Steve Bullock's office to launch an investigation into Allen "A.J." Long Soldier Jr.'s death.Long Soldier died at Northern Montana Hospital Nov. 23 of what a coroner and jury found to be acute alcohol withdrawl. He was transported to the hospital from the Hill County Detention Center, where he was being held on a misdemeanor warrant.

In the letter, James Steele Jr., the chair of the council , asked the Department of Justice to address 10 concerns with the handling of the circumstances leading up to Long Soldier's death and the March inquest into his death.

Long Soldier, a star athlete who led the Hays-Lodge Pole basketball team To a Class C championship in 2007, died at the age of 18. "Enrolled at Haskell University in Lawrence, Kansas, he had a bright future ahead of him." Steele wrote in the letter."Will anyone be held accountable for the obviously incorrect assessment of A.J.'s serious medical condition that directly led to his death?" The letter asks. "How can it be justified to treat a serious medical condition with untrained jail staff in a jail cell at a detention center ill-equiped to deal with a serious medical condition?"

Apparently when an Indian dies in custody, it just ain't worth checking out.The following is from the Great Falls Tribune.

Attorney general declines to investigate death of Indian basketball star

HELENA — Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock has declined a request by the Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council that he open an investigation into the Nov. 23, 2009, death of Allen "A.J." Long Soldier.

Long Soldier, the high school basketball phenom who led Hays-Lodgepole to the State Class C basketball championship in 2007, died at Northern Montana Hospital in Havre after falling seriously ill while in custody at the Hill County Detention Center.

Authorities said he died of acute alcohol withdrawal.

Last month James Steele Jr., chairman of the Tribal Leaders Council, wrote a letter to the attorney general asking him to look into whether Hill County detention officers provided adequate care to the 18-year-old, who died after spending four days in jail.
Long Soldier died in the hospital after twice being sent there from the detention center, where he was jailed on May 19 on a misdemeanor warrant from Blaine County.

In a May 6 letter to Bullock, Steele stated that the way Long Soldier died "is of ongoing concern" to the tribal community.

Tribal leaders were critical of how the results of a coroner's inquest into the death were presented to a seven-member jury last March and called on Bullock to investigate.

Hill County Attorney Gina Dahl, who presented evidence to the jurors in the May coroner's inquest, is married to the Hill County jail administrator, according to Tribune files.

"Clearly this appears to present a conflict of interest and, if true, undermines the findings of the Coroner's jury," Steele wrote in his letter to Bullock.

Steele also suggested Long Soldier received inadequate medical care because of his race.

"Because A.J. was obviously Indian, incarcerated in county-run facilities, overseen by non-Indian jailers and supervisors, strong concern exists that his lack of adequate care was because of his race," Steele wrote.

In March a jury cleared Hill County detention officers of any wrongdoing after 30 minutes of deliberation.

In his May 28 response to Steele, Bullock called Long Soldier's death a "tragedy," but he stated the findings of the coroner's inquest were fairly presented and that nothing in the findings provided sufficient evidence to "support the conclusion that Mr. Long Soldier died as a result of criminal means."

As for whether Long Soldier was given adequate care while in jail, Bullock wrote that the state does not establish standards for the treatment of ill inmates in county detention facilities."By statute the operation of county detention facilities is the responsibility of the county commissioners and the sheriff," Bullock wrote.Steele, who was traveling out of state on Monday, said the Tribal Leadership Council would wait to hear from Fort Belknap Tribal President Tracy King before deciding how to move forward.Related

"We as tribal leaders were concerned that if a star athlete of a different race, maybe white or otherwise, was in this same situation, maybe it might have been handled differently," Steele said. "We appreciate the attorney general's efforts. We'll wait to see what (King's) feelings are regarding the attorney general's letter and go from there."According to Bullock's letter, Long Soldier's mother, Dayna Jean Bear, has hired an attorney and filed a complaint with the state Department of Labor's Human Rights Commission regarding the circumstances of her son's death."The civil justice system provides the means to determine the specific facts of Mr. Long Soldier's death, as related by witnesses testifying underThe Attorney General has declined.